June 21, 2005

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chemists have developed a method of creating the world’s tiniest manufactured particles — less than 100 nanometers — for delivering drugs and other organic materials into the human body.

Until now, most current techniques for particle formation were incompatible with organic materials, according to Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at UNC and N.C. State University.

June 21, 2005

Researchers are working to create replacement human tissue from a naturally occurring protein, elastin.

In animal studies financed by the Army, Dr. Kenton Gregory, director of the Oregon Medical Laser Center, has succeeded in patching what would usually be fatal wounds to the gastrointestinal tract and other organs with living tissue that is accepted by the body and that eventually becomes part of the organ itself.

June 20, 2005

University of Sheffield researchers are developing synthetic molecular motors that simulate biological molecular motors, which operate by using molecular shape changes.

The researchers are using a polymer with weak acidic or basic groups along the backbone. For a polyacid, for example, in acidic conditions the molecule is uncharged and hydrophobic; it takes up a collapsed, compact shape. But when the acid is neutralised, the molecule ionizes and becomes much… read more

June 20, 2005

Human embryonic stem cells have been coaxed in the lab to develop into the early forms of cells which eventually become eggs or sperm, UK researchers reveal.

It might one day be to allow people who cannot produce eggs or sperm to have children, by taking cells from their body, deriving embryonic stem cells via therapeutic cloning and then deriving eggs or sperm.

June 20, 2005

The line that has long separated human beings from the machines that assist them is blurring as complex technologies become a visible part of people who depend upon them.

Major universities like Carnegie Mellon and the University of California at Berkeley, as well as companies and the United States military, are exploring ways in which people can be enhanced by strapping themselves into wearable robotics, or exoskeletons.

June 16, 2005

A new software language, ISO 18629, promises to enable computers to reason much more precisely and thus better reflect subtleties intended by commands of human operators.

ISO 18629 uses AI and language analysis to represent computer commands in the context of a manufacturing plan. Researchers have incorporated approximately 300 concepts, such as “duration” and “sequence,” into its software structure. Computers using software with this expanded, though still primitive AI… read more

June 16, 2005

Scientists have discovered a way to create new mice brain cells in a dish, using stem cells.

If the discovery also applied to humans, it could be possible to generate enough of a patient’s own stem cells to restore damaged brain function. Since the recipient of a transplant would also be the donor, the procedure could also be carried out without the need for immune system suppressing drugs.

June 15, 2005

By depositing nanoparticles onto a charged surface, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have crafted nanotubes from silicon that are flexible and nearly as soft as rubber.

“Resembling miniature scrolls, the nanotubes could prove useful as catalysts, guided laser cavities and nanorobots,” said Sahraoui Chaieb, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Illinois.

To create their flexible nanotubes, Chaieb and his colleagues – physics professor… read more

June 15, 2005

University of Michigan scientists have created the nanotechnology equivalent of a Trojan horse to smuggle a powerful chemotherapeutic drug inside tumor cells – increasing the drug’s cancer-killing activity and reducing its toxic side effects.

The drug delivery vehicle is a manmade polymer molecule called a dendrimer. Less than five nanometers in diameter, these are small enough to slip through tiny openings in cell membranes. Dendrimers have a tree-like structure… read more

June 14, 2005

Researchers at Massachussetts Institute of Technology and Virginia Commonwealth University reckon their supramolecular nanostamping printing technique could enable the mass production of nanodevices. The method uses DNA hybridization to replicate a pattern and has a resolution of less than 40 nm.

June 14, 2005

The key to getting robots to perform complex tasks may not be in making them smarter. Instead, it may be in getting a lot of dumb robots to act together.

That’s the idea behind a project being led by the University of Pennsylvania, funded by a $5 million grant from the Department of Defense. The purpose of the Scalable Swarms of Autonomous Robots and Sensors project is to create… read more